Nişancı Ahmed Pasha

Nişancı · Şehla · · Hacı Ahmed Pasha
Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire
In office 23 June 1740 – 21 April 1742
Monarch	Mahmud I
Preceded by	Ivaz Mehmed Pasha
Succeeded by	Hekimoğlu Ali Pasha
Ottoman Governor of Egypt
In office 1748–1751
Preceded by	Yeğen Ali Pasha
Succeeded by	Seyyid Abdullah Pasha
Personal details
Died	February 1753 Aleppo, Aleppo Eyalet, Ottoman Empire
Nationality	Ottoman
Religion	Sunni Islam

Nişancı Ahmed Pasha (died February 1753), also called Şehla Ahmed Pasha or Hacı Şehla Ahmed Pasha or Kör Vezir Ahmed Pasha ("Ahmed Pasha the Blind Vizier"), was an Ottoman Grand Vizier during the reign of Mahmud I. He was also the Ottoman governor of Egypt from 1748 to 1751.

His family was from Alaiye (now Alanya in Antalya Province, Turkey), but Ahmed was born in Söke (in Aydın Province, Turkey) to his father Cafer. One of his uncles was a vizier. He was appointed as the chief stableman (Turkish: imrahor). In 1738, he was promoted to be the governor of Aydın Province. In 1742, he returned to Constantinople, the capital. He was appointed as the nişancı (one of the highest bureaucratic posts). Soon afterwards, he was promoted to be the grand vizier on 23 June 1740.

He was sometimes called Kör Vezir ("blind vizier") because he was somewhat cross-eyed.

His term in the office was one of the few periods of peace in the history of the Ottoman Empire, as the war against the Habsburg Monarchy and the Russian Empire had just ended and Nader Shah of Persia was occupied in Transoxiana and Daghestan. Despite the favorable conditions, Ahmed Pasha was unable to take advantage of the political state of peace and failed to follow his intended program of recovery and reform. Meanwhile, he was accused of dishonesty and indifference to state affairs. He was dismissed from the post on 21 April 1742, and was replaced by the more experienced Hekimoğlu Ali Pasha, who had already once served a term as grand vizier 10 years ago.

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